{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/hearing-wrap-expanded-school-choice-boosts-american-students-academic-0", "Hearing Wrap Up: Expanded School Choice Boosts American Students\u2019 Academic Performance", "2025-09-18", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "House", "MO", "Eric Burlison", "B001316", "burlison.house.gov", "burlison", "https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014Today, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing on \u201cOpening Doors to Opportunity: The Promise of Expanded School Choice and Alternatives to Four-Year College Degrees.\u201d During the hearing, members examined the benefits of expanded school choice programs and students\u2019 academic performances. Members also assessed the current state of post-secondary education institutions that fail to produce college graduates who are prepared to meet the U.S. economy\u2019s needs.\n\nKey Takeaways:\n\nAmerican K-12 education had been declining for decades before the expansion of school choice programs among U.S. states, which have improved student academic performance and lifetime outcomes, all while lowering costs for taxpayers.\n\nShaka Mitchell, Senior Fellow at the American Federation for Children, testified that \u201c[The] evidence is clear school choice improves outcomes for students who participate and for those who remain in traditional public schools. In fact, 27 out of 30 studies have shown positive or neutral effects on the achievement of students who stay in their local public schools. Perhaps the most striking data comes from Ohio\u2019s Ed Choice program. Students in that program were not just more likely to graduate high school, they were 32 percent more likely to enroll in college and 60 percent more likely to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree than their peers. For the lowest income students, the effect was even greater. They were 175 percent more likely to graduate from college. These aren\u2019t incremental gains. These are life changing outcomes. And behind every statistic is a student.\u201d\n\nRachel Greszler, Fellow at the Economic Policy Innovation Center at The Heritage Foundation, testified that \u201cFlorida and Arizona have led the way in demonstrating school choice success. And now, as more states are following suit. We\u2019re seeing increasing numbers: Half of U.S. students are eligible for some form of private choice program. Also, over just the past two years, a majority of states have passed laws limiting cell phone use in schools. When students aren\u2019t glued to screens, they learn better, they feel safer, and they can become more conscientious. In Alabama, the West Alabama Partnership brings schools and employers together. Ninth graders are required to attend a Worlds of Work career expo, and seniors can attend these expos and leave with a guaranteed job after graduation.\u201d\n\nPost-secondary education institutions are failing to produce college graduates who meet the U.S. economy\u2019s needs, instead creating millions of young Americans with decades of student debt many of whom are in jobs which do not require a bachelor\u2019s degree. Alternative secondary and higher education programs provide early career learning, income, and futures absent of student debt. The employment needs of the dynamic U.S. economy are simply not being met by mass adherence to four-year degrees.\n\nDr. Cody Hirschi, Superintendent of the Reeds Spring School District, testified that \u201c[In the Reeds Spring School District], students build homes, repair cars, and serve in nursing homes and on ambulances, among several other real world learning opportunities. Each program is guided by an advisory team of experts working in our community in those related fields. Not only do our students gain incredible experience, but they are also earning industry recognized credentials, growing from 28 earned when I arrived to 226 earned last year, 88 percent of our students who attend table rock career center and are in an internship have a positive placement in a career path in the related field or post-secondary institution offered to them through our portrait of a graduate framework. We emphasize durable skills such as communication, critical thinking, adaptability, integrity, perseverance, and emotional resilience. We are implementing student pathways, strength-based assessments, and competency-based learning, giving students voice and agency in their education.\u201d\n\nTodd Dillender, Chief Operating Officer of Caliber Collision, testified that \u201cTech Forest estimates we need nearly 100,000 new technicians between 2024 and 2028. And the reality is, our traditional pipelines, high school and trade school graduates simply aren\u2019t producing enough people to keep up. This shortage ripples across the economy. When repairs are delayed, costs rise. Insurers feel it, consumers feel it, and road safety is at risk. And the challenge is only growing. Vehicles are more complex than ever, with advanced safety systems that must be calibrated and tested before they go back on the road.\u201d\n\nMs. Greszler testified that \u201cWashington has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into federal higher education subsidies. They\u2019ve created a near monopoly on student lending. But instead of better outcomes for students, they face higher tuition, ballooning debt, and too many degrees that don\u2019t pay off. More than a third of undergraduate programs today have a negative return on investment, and only 60 percent of students who enter a college graduate with a degree within six years. Meanwhile, red tape is holding back proven alternatives like apprenticeships. A Harvard study found that we could be using apprenticeships to fill three times as many occupations, and eight times as many job openings.\u201d\n\nThe One Big Beautiful Bill creates new investment in students across the U.S. and boosts academic opportunities for students across economic backgrounds.\n\nMs. Greszler testified that \u201cWe need more of these bridges from education to work. Congress has already taken significant steps in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, expanding 529 accounts, creating workforce Pell grants, limiting federal subsidies for low value degrees, and imposing work requirements in SNAP and Medicaid. But more can be done. Policymakers should expand apprenticeships, phase down federal subsidies that fuel higher tuition, replace failed federal job training programs with employer led initiatives, and make welfare more work oriented.\u201d\n\nMember Highlights:\n\nSubcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) asked about students\u2019 lack of preparedness for careers post-college.\n\nSubcommittee Chairman Burlison: \u201cThe research that was quoted earlier suggests that one out of every two college graduates in the United States is working, is employed, in a job that does not require a degree. With that, is it fair to say that the post-education, you know, post-secondary education system is not meeting students\u2019 needs?\u201d\n\nMs. Greszler: \u201cI think in many instances it is not. And that\u2019s due to this massive amount of subsidies that are pushing too many people into college, four-year degrees, and also graduate degrees, but also a lack of awareness about what is the outcome of those degrees. And that\u2019s why I think it\u2019s been a good thing that congress has instituted those restrictions, so that funding [is] not going to go to programs that don\u2019t produce an outcome of earnings that are higher than a high school graduate. And that\u2019s exactly what we need more of, is more of these market-based solutions. But we\u2019re lacking that with the enormous amount of federal money that is in higher education.\u201d\n\nRep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) inquired about the success rates of students if the U.S. increased options for alternative pathways in education and careers.\n\nRep. Higgins: \u201cWe got so wise at the federal level and so unionized throughout our education system that we decided \u2018that\u2019s it, you have to have a four-year degree.\u2019 It\u2019s going to cost more and more and more. Now we\u2019re crippling young Americans with debt for degrees that they don\u2019t use. And in many cases, when they do get their degree, they come out of school after interviewing for a job with somebody that never went to college because that\u2019s going to be their supervisor. So, we have to address this. We have to train our young people. Mr. Mitchell, if we shifted back to the way we did things before, what would happen for young Americans in our country?\u201d\n\nMr. Mitchell: \u201cThank you, Congressman, for the question and for, you know, the information about what our education system used to set our children up for. And I think you are right to acknowledge that we have become too fixated on four-year college degrees today. One of the things that I believe school choice actually helps with, is showing families that there\u2019s a menu of options for their students, because what we know, and I know this as a parent of three girls, there is range diversity. Even among the daughters in my own household, they have different have different affinities and talents and skills. It would be crazy to think that the exact same path is going to work for each one of them. So we\u2019ve got to have an environment where we are allowing families to access a pathway that best meets the needs of their unique children. For some kids, that\u2019s going to be college. For some, it can be career. Maybe getting into the trades of some of the other witnesses up here have discussed graduating high school with, um, certifications that allow you to get right into the workforce is a tremendous thing, and [it] means that you don\u2019t have to go into debt pursuing a degree that you may not be interested in in the first place. And choice really opens up the aperture widens the aperture so that families have options.\u201d\n\nRep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) asked if graduates of four-year college programs are more focused on pushing political agendas than they are developing real world skills.\n\nRep. Boebert: \u201cMr. Mitchell, would you say that today\u2019s four-year colleges are more focused on, pushing political agendas than preparing our students for real world, marketable skills?\u201d\n\nMr. Mitchell: \u201cI think, unfortunately, what you see across the educational spectrum is that much of education, whether or not that\u2019s K-12 or even at the higher [education] level, it\u2019s not yielding the results for students that they need to be productive citizens, right? So, the [National Assessment of Education Progress] scores that were just released show that our graduating seniors are performing academically at the lowest levels in history. Now, many of those are matriculating still into colleges. And we\u2019ve got to ask the question, \u2018where did all of that money get used?\u2019 Because the dollars have been, you know, have increased over time. The academic results are decreasing over time. And as we\u2019ve heard from other members of this panel today, kids are leaving with more debt than they are opportunity. And so, we\u2019ve got to ask some really hard questions, I think, about the entire education system and how we give families and kids more options.\u201d\n\nRep. Boebert: \u201cYes. And would you say that many of today\u2019s college graduates are more ideologically rigid than they are job ready after leaving?\u201d\n\nMr. Mitchell: \u201cYeah. One of the things that is really interesting, some research [that] comes out of the University of Arkansas shows that students who participate in choice programs when they are in K-12 are actually more civically engaged, right? They have greater exposure to civil discourse, for instance, which we are in dire need of, especially on campus. And so, I\u2019m hopeful that as we increase choice among K-12 students, that those young adults will be more prepared to engage with the world, to engage even with others who have different views from themselves in a civil manner.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/hearing-wrap-expanded-school-choice-boosts-american-students-academic-0"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8961730636656284, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}